Apparatus for humidifying and sterilizing air



` Feb. 4, 1.930. Y E. c. Rosi-:Now 1,745,838

` APPARATUS FOR I-IUMIDIFYINGl AIND STERILIZING AIR Original Filed June12, 1922 i.' Patented Feb. 4, 1930 fA. ld O- l EnWAnn anpsENow, orROCHESTER, MrNNEsoTA s APPARATUS Fon HUMIDIFYING AND s'rEnILrzING AmThis invention relates` to an apparatus for humidifying, washing andsterilizing'the air in heated rooms. It is' well, known that in g closedheated rooms, the air becomes charged kwith bacteria and thatv thereismore or less dust Vand other impurities therein.- It is also Wellknown that there is a circulation of air upward from the radiatorswhichare com- I monly used to heat the rooms.- This upward 104circulation 'of 'air' carries withit a stream of I ldustC :which usuallyresults in a'soiled `place on the ceiling, and if there are anydraperies,

- caused by the- 'radiator to humidify, wash andsterilize the air in theroom.

It is a further object of the invention to luse the heat of theradiator. to circulate the air .through a casing having means thereinfor trapping and killing the germs.

It is more specifically an object of the invention to provide' a casing'disposed over the' radiator having a receptacle therein containing anoxidizing germicide in a liquid and having absorbent moist surfacesinsaid casingover and through which the air is circulated., s l

It is still another object of the invention to providek a novel meansforsecuring the casing to the radiator to provide a novel means forsupporting and spacing the absorbent material and to provide novel meansfor regulating the amount of liquid in said receptacle.

These and otherobjects and advantages of the invention will be fully setforth in the following description made in connection f withtheaccompanying drawings in which like Areference characters refer tothel same parts throughout the different views, and in which, f Fig. 1is a view partl in side elevation and partly in longitudina sectionshowing a radiator with the device attached thereto;

versely between the side members 1 and 2 and are secured thereto in anysuitable manldisposed directly against the members 4.

Fig. 2`is a vertical section taken 011 thev Serial No. 567,550. Dividedand this application "led January` 22,

1926.A Serial No. 83,163. v

line 2 2 of Fig. l, as indicated by the arrows, showing a portion of thedevice in adiifer'ent position in dotted lines;

Fig. 3V is a view in vertical section on an enlargedscale of one end ofthe receptacle;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a modified arrangement; and

Fig 5 isa fragmentary vertical section of the device taken on the line 55 'of Fig. 1. .l Referring to the drawings, a radiator of the usual typeforfheating a room by steam or hotvwater is shown at a, having theindividual sections a1 and a longitudinal member a2 connecting thesections adjacent the top thereof.

A frame is attached to the radiator, said frame comprising spaced frntand rear side members 1 and 2 which extend lon 'tudinally ofJtheradiator and are connected y the end members 3. Spaced members 4 extendtransner, these members being adapted to extend between the sectionsla1of the radiator and Lito rest upon and be supported by thelongitudinally extending member a2, and being shown as recessed forengagement with said member. The members 4 are further prvided withspaced bolts 5 having grooved countersunk heads disposed in the uppersurface of the members 4 and having threaded ends projectingtherebeneath. A chain or other flexible' member 6 has its end links s orloops disposed over the bolts 5 against collars thereon adjacent themembers 4, which links o'r loops are held in placeb the nuts' f threadedonto the bolts. If pre erred, the

ends of the chain or the links thereof can be After the nuts have been'started on the bolts, the same, together with the chain, can betightened by turning the bolts from thevupper ends with a screw driver.,The chain6 is thus clamped tightly against the member'a2 and the frameis rigidly secured to the radiator. The front end of the frame isprovided with a plurality of holes 7 suitably arranged to produce anartistic effect. The

- frame is provided with a cover 8 preferably made from a solid paneland having a mold- 10 ing flange around its edge "adapted to lit overthe front and' ends of the frame, this cover preferably being removableand simply placed in position'on the frame. 'A detector 9 made of thinsheet material, preferably metal, is secured to the rear member 2 andextends downward in/the rear of the radiator substantially to the bottomthereof.

Supported on the transverse members 4 is a receptacle or tank 10 shownasbeing a shallow rectangular tank having ai partition 11 is disposedbetweenadjacent one end thereof. This tank is disposedwith its frgntside substantially in contact with the inner sideJof the member 1 and acoiled'spring 12 of comparatively light wire one end thereof and thepartition 11 being detachably interlocked with the latter'. Foldeddsheets 13 of absorbent material, preferably ordinary blotting paper, areplaced over the convolutions of the spring 12v with their lower freeends disposed in the tank adjacent the bottom thereof and a 'curtain 14of absorbent fabric material such as ordinary mosquito bar, covers themember 13 and depends at the sides-and ends thereof into the tank 10.The tank 10 is adapted to contain a liquid and is provided with a supplypipe 15 and with an overflow pipe 15.

. It is desired to maintain the liquid in the tank at substantially aconstant level and for this purpose a valve is disposed in a casing 16ormed as a hollow stem exteriorly threaded. The valve is not shown butis of any common type and is spring-pressed to closing position or ismoved to closing position under the action of both the spring and theliuid.` Such valve is provided with a projecting plunger 17. which, whenpressed upon will open the valve". This valve is similar to the wellknown Schrader bicycle valve. In order to maintain the liquid at thedesired level and operate the valve in casing 16, said casing isprovided with la bracket 18 held thereon byclamp1ng nuts threaded on'said casing, which brackets has pivotedthereto a lever 19.

' Said lever has a projecting pivot or pintle which is received in anaperture at the endof said bracket. The other end of the lever 19y is-connected to the` bottom of a oat member 2Q. -The-wfloat menber is madeof considerable weight and when the water in the tank is lowered thesame will drop by gravity andv the other end of the lever 19 whichl lisflattened'and is disposed under the plunger 17 will contact with andmove said plunger, thus admitting water until the fluid is-raised to asucient height to relieve the pressure at the end of the lever on theplunger 1'?. j j

The lever 19 is constructed so, as to 'be rcversible in order to be usedwith Vthe se type of valve whenit is desired to ve the valve or entrancepipe projecting upwardly into the tank 10. The bracket 18 is reversed inposition and the end of the lever which was attached to the float,as'shown inFig. 3

1s connected to the apertured end of the bracket by a suitable pivot,the lever bein provided' with a flattened portion 21 adapte to extendover the plunger 17 The ioat 20 is attached .to the other endof thelever and it will be apparent that the lever now acts as a third classlever and will open the valve when-the oat 20 drops on account. of thelowered liquid level. i

The liquid used in the tank 10 is preferably water containing anoxidizing or germicide substance. It has been found that potassiumpermanganate is a suitable substance v..

surface of said members and the dust, baC- teria and other impuritiesjfwill, lin a large" measure, be trapped and collected on said members.The water will be constantly evaporated and the atmosphere of the roomwill be humidied. 'The germicide and oxidizingl 4agent will notevaporate and this agent -will act to kill the germs and bacteriacollected on the sheet members 13 and the curtain or -fabric 14. Nofumes of the germicide will thus vbe disseminated intotheatmosphere.

Any decomposed material tending to make the Water or saturated .partsbecome foul will be oxidized by the oxidizing agent so that theapparatus will be kept in tresh and sanitary condition at all times.Actual tests made with the device show tliat the vbacterial content ofthe air is reduced over iity percent. f

The inside of the box or'irame formed by the members 1, 2, 3 and 4, aswell as the inside of the cover 8 will preferably be,x coated with waterproof coating, such a varnish, and the outside of the members will befinished to correspond w'vithtlhlel .other woodwork/of the It is furthernoted that the pan 10,`

l'OOm.

as shown in Figs. ,land 3, is removable by f merelyremoving cover 8 andthen turning the pan edgewise and sliding the same laterally andupwardly kfrom under the v'inlet .pipe 15s I,

From the above pdescription it is seen that applicant has provided anextremely elicient apparatus for the purpose intended which has greatutility. The humidity of -the air is automatically proportionedA to theai i' r thewalls and i v'wperies of the-room against the eo dust ladenaire arising from the l and onel A thereof and thex amount vof heatvra-l diated. rilie cleansing of vthe airv protects" radiatorr Thedevice, also, 'is etlicient for cooling window radiator sea-ts as thecover 8 can be constructedy to form a seat or shelf. The device, as awhole, forms an eicient and ornamental apparatus, the action of which isentirely automatic. The control of the inlet of the water and theoverflompipe ren ders the device entirely safe and requires very littleattention.

It will, ofcourse, be understood that various changes may be made in theform, details, and arrangement of the apparatus without departing fromthe scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists ina device capable of carrying out the objects above set forth,in thenovel parts and combinations ofl parts disclosed and setforth in p theappended claims.

terial disposed over the convolutions of said member and extendingbetween said convolutions with their lower ends disposed in the liquidin said tank.

2. A humiditieradapted tobe placed over a radiator having incombination, a liquid containing tank, asupporting member in said tankextending above the level of liquid therein, spaced absorbent meanscarried by said member and having their lower ends disposed. in saidliquid, an absorbent fabric -curtain covering said means: and dependingi at the sides and endsthereof into the liquid p in said tank and meansfor directing air cirv culated by said radiator over said means andcurtain. I 3. A humidifying device having in combii nation, a tankcontaining liquid, amember, y comprising a coiled w1re sprlng extendlnglongitudinally of said tank in contact with the bottom thereof, andextending above the securing Xsaid casing to ,said radiator and meansconnected to a water supply for automatically maintaining a certainlevel of water in said tank.

5. A humidifier and moisture distributing device having in combination,a tank containing liquid and adapted to be supported on a radiator, amember disposed in the liquid said tank and extending longitudinallythereof, said member engaging the bottom of the tank and comprisingspaced convolutions extending above the level of water in said tank, andsheets of absorbent material disposed between and supported by saidconvolutions adapted to have their lower portions disposed in theliquid-in said tank.

6. A humidifier and sterilizer adapted to be placed'over a radiatorhaving in combination, aftank containing liquid and supported on saidradiator, a plurality 3f spaced sheets of absorbent material imperviousto air, extending transversely of said tank. having their lower endsdisposed in .the liquid therein and projecting above said liquid, meansin said tank for supporting said sheets, a curtain of fabric materialpervious to air disposed over said sheets and depending into the liquidin ,Said tank and means for directing air rising about said radiatorthrough said curtain and over said sheets.

In testimony whereof I atix my signature.

EDWARD C. ROSENOW.

liquid therein and folded sheets of absorbent material disposed over theconvolutions ofsaid spring with the lower ends disposed 1n the liquid insaid tank.

4. A humidifier and sterilizeradapted to be placed over a radiatorhaving 1n comblnation, a liquid containing tank, a member havingconvolutions extending longltudinally of said tank and above the levelAof the liquid therein, sheets of absorbent materlal disposed over andbetween said convolutions of i said member with their lower endsdisposed in the liquid in said tank, an. absorbent fabric curtaincovering said sheets and' depending t'the sides and ends thereof 1 ntothe liquid in said talk, a casing surrounding said ltank supported bysaid radiator and adaptedV to direct air circulated by said radlatorover 35 and thnough said sheets and curtain, means

